Phillies Hit Five Home Runs to Beat Atlanta 7-1

September 18, 2023

Rick Nyman,

ATLANTA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber hit a 483-foot, two-run homer, the Phillies went deep four other times to back Zack Wheeler in a 7-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.

Schwarber’s 45th long homer of the season gave the Phillies a six-run lead in the sixth, a drive that cleared the top of the Chop House restaurant in right field at Truist Park. It was the second-farthest ball hit at the home of the Braves and the second-longest homer by Schwarber in his career, 5 feet shy of the ball he hit off Yu Darvish in the NL Championship Series at San Diego last year.

Philadelphia opened a 3 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card.

Atlanta lost its fourth straight but was assured a bye in the Wild Card Series and home-field advantage in the Division Series when Milwaukee lost 1-0 at St. Louis.

Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas also homered to send the major league-leading Braves to their fourth straight loss.

After Ozzie Albies’ 31st homer put Atlanta up 1-0 in the first, Rojas’ second long ball, an opposite-field shot to right in the second, gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Harper, a two-time NL MVP, hit his 18th homer, an opposite-field shot to left in the third, to make it 3-1. He began the game having just two hits in his last 32 at-bats on the road.

Realmuto went deep for the 19th time to pad the lead at 4-1 in the fourth. Castellanos’ 25th homer sailed 429 feet to left and made it 5-1 in the sixth. Schwarber followed three batters later with the third-longest home run in the major leagues this year.

Wheeler (12-6) retired 10 straight following Albies’ homer, then walked Matt Olson with two outs in the fourth. He faced trouble in the sixth, loading the bases on Olson’s infield single but struck out Marcell Ozuna to end the threat.

Wheeler was charged with one run and three hits in six innings, rebounding from a 7-6 home loss to Atlanta last week. Three relievers finished a four-hitter.

Kyle Wright (0-3) gave up four runs on three homers, five hits and four walks in four-plus innings. Michael Tonkin allowed the other two long balls.

Atlanta has 289 long balls, by far the most in the majors. After Ozuna went deep on Sunday, the Braves became the first team in history to have four players with at least 35 homers in a season.

CLOSING IN ON HISTORY

Schwarber needs one RBI to become the 13th player since 1920 with at least 45 homers, 100 RBIs, 120 walks and 100 runs in a season. The others are Babe Ruth (eight times), Barry Bonds (four times), Mark McGwire (twice), Lou Gehrig, Chipper Jones, Aaron Judge, Harmon Killebrew, Ralph Kiner, Mickey Mantle, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt and Jim Thome.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: LHP Max Fried will receive extra rest because the team worries he might develop a blister on one of his fingers. Manager Brian Snitker said Fried got a hot spot on his finger in his last start, a win Sept. 12 at Philadelphia. … RF Ronald Acuña Jr., a strong contender for the NL MVP award, was back in the lineup after missing two games with right calf tightness and went 1 for 4 with a double. Acuña hit the farthest homer in the history of Truist Park, which opened in 2017, at 495 feet in 2020.

UP NEXT

Braves RHP Spencer Strider (17-5, 3.73 ERA) will face LHP Cristopher Sánchez (2-4, 3.40) on Tuesday as the teams play the second game of a three-game series.